As you noted, the only real solution is to move that center of buoyancy back towards the bow. You have some options that I don't since I can't "raise" The `Blocker any more due to a bridge clearance.

I think all of your ideas will work to some extent. Ballast in the stern is probably the easiest (I put some more house batteries back there). A bigger bow center toon (or perhaps "dropping" the existing unit) will obviously do the most for improving your overall buoyancy and fuel economy.

Tough call.

Morganh wrote:

All of the new work created a new issue, that Blocker warned me about, and now I must fix.

After adding 4' to the back toons, it gave me more than enough floatation to compensate for the new swim platform, the new 4 stroke motor, and the granite counter top in the galley. It added so much buoyancy, that now when I put 4 people in the bow, while under way on a weekend day and other larger boats are running around, a decent size roller can come right through the front door. This never happened before.

I took her back out of the water, dropped the center toon, and moved her forward as much as I could to add lift to the bow. This helped the problem a little, but still an issue. The only other options I can think of are:

1- drop the middle toon down another 3-5 inches so that it rides roughly 4-5 inches below the side toons to see it this will give the front more lift

2- add some water through the plugs to the new 4' extensions in the back to reduce the buoyancy back there, therefore lifting the bow. This will hurt my gas mileage and overall speed, but my new 4 stroke Yahama gets unbelievable mileage anyway, and we are a slow cruiser so speed is not an issue.

3- completely remove the center toon, and replace it with a shorter, but larger diameter toon, so that it only adds greater lift to the front.

Any ideas, comments, concerns or advice on any or all of these would be greatly appreciated. I must get this problem rectified. Wife is not happy when water comes in and runs across the floor.

Thanks Blocker. I had also moved my 4 house batteries to under the drivers seat bench to tr and balance the placement of the generator. Now I kind of wish I had put them all in the stern. Sad to say, but I even hate to pump out the black water tank, because its adding some nice weight to the stern.

On a brighter note, just about done with the new cabinets. Here is a photo. Once lights and decor go in, I will post again.

OK. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I am riding really bow heavy, especially when I have 6 adults and 8 kids on board. I outlined three fixes and am going to use a combination. Need advice on this one. Am I crazy?

I installed my middle pontoon. 25" diameter, 20' long. To install it, I bolted a piece of 5/4 pressure treated lumber to each side of the pontoon mounts, and then bolted that through the aluminum floor joists. This dropped my middle toon down by roughly one inch. Still have front weight issues. For more bow lift, I need to drop the front of the toon down, without dropping the back much. I want all the lift in the front.

To accomplish my goal, I am thinking of taking the center toon off, removing the 5/4 board, then buying a set of long 4/4s, and cut them from 0" to 4" thick, for the length of pontoons. This will effectively drop the front of the toon 4" and taper to the back where its depth will match the depth of the outside tunes. This should, in my pea brain, make it act a bit more like a v-hull in configuration. Front center bow toon will be lower in the water than the outside toons, which should give the front more lift.

AM I CRAZY? Help. I'm about the pull the trigger and do it. If it doesnt work, its just another 3-4 hours to switch it back. Speak now or forever hold your peace.

The simple math says that this will certainly give your more buoyancy, and it will move your center of buoyancy forward... which is what you want.

BUT.... just moving one toon "down" 4" with a taper will give you less buoyancy than you might think.... probably only in the range of 300 pounds. And you *might* run the risk of plowing the tip of the center toon.

If it's easy to do, it's probably worth a try. But I don't think it is going to give you the dramatic change that you are looking for. It's not going to offset the 700+ pounds of buoyancy that you added all the way at the stern of the boat with your extensions.

Thanks Blocker. Plowing the center toon was a concern of mine as well. I might jsut drop it one inch more. test it, and continue with another in a few weeks if it needs it. I need to watch the effect on the center tune front.

I also added a little water to the the back port side extension, to offset the new granite counter tops on the starboard side, and it leveled her out nicely. I might add a little more to each side, to loose some of that excess buoyancy in the rear. Hate what its doing to my speed though. I'm a turtle, but don't want to be a snail.

I am tearing the grey carpet out of the front this winter, repairing the wood floor, and applying the woven vinyl, "Better Than Teak" that I have on the swim platform. I love that stuff and it looks great.

Question. When I tear the carpet up, I know I have some bad spots on the old floor. I really dont want to replace the whole floor. Is there some type of liquid wood, or wood filler, or something similar that I can put down to firm up the floor, level it a bit, and make a nice base to apply the glue to for the new flooring?

You can buy a penetrating marine epoxy/sealer,if the wood is not to soft. I used it when I rebuilt my cabin on the floor and it seems to be working well. But on the deck it may be more cost effective to Hut put new wood down.

Have been getting soooo much great info from this thread. Hoping I can leverage some of your experience as I dive deeper into a rebuild on the '95 PC 32' that I bought recently. Deck is almost clear, with only the genny and tank to be removed. Next up is re-decking the front. Not planning to re-deck under the cabin. And then replacing the roof panels and carpet.

I am following the conversation about cabin wall replacement and wonder if y'all can advise at what point the PC walls ceased to structural elements in the design. With a '95, I am assuming my walls are structural, which worries me. They show signs of water damage. So I am planning to replace them but have not decided yet what to use. Any updated advice on the best material to create the new walls with?

Finally pulled the beast out for the 2017 winter upgrades. I am tackling ripping out the old floor in the front and putting new floor down, replacing the front carpet with the vinyl woven "TEAK LOOK ALIKE" that I did on the swim platform, adding a massive light bar on the front roof, adding RGB lights all the way around the toons, adding LED cup holders in the front to match the LED accent lights, taking off the thrusters and upgrading them to new Minn Kotas that have 55# of thrust each, and reworking the plumbing to the head.

Just a few little projects. Here are some photos of the floor ripped up in the soft spots. I am adding some reinforcing floor braces around the high traffic areas.

And I forgot one new upgrade as well...............graphics. I have really struggled with this. I wanted something unique, yet classy, that gave a good relaxing , island feel. This is what I think I am going to do. After it is applied, I am going to add just a touch of color within the design, as my wife directs. She is the awesome decorator and knows exactly what is enough color in the right places.

Can I get some electrical advice please. Blocker, you out there? I have a thruster in the bow and one in the stern. The bow thruster is about 10-12 feet from the battery bank, and the stern thruster is about 20 feet from the battery bank. I have a positive and a negative 8 AWG wire running to each to operate the thruster motors. I have changed out the motors to 55# and need good amperage to each, so my question is.......

Instead of ripping out and rerunning bigger wire like 4AWG, can I not use both wires I already have run, as positive, in other words have two wires, both going from positive battery to positive thruster, and then just ground the negative from the thruster to the boat frame? The battery bank is grounded to the boat frame. Would that not essentially give me twice the amperage capacity over the long wire drop?

Yes, you are correct, the voltage drop at 20 feet with a single 8 gauge copper wire is 1.26 volts, and with 2 8 gauge wires is only .63 volts, not this is assuming a 50 amp draw and using a singole battery for 12 volts. You are using a 12 volt thruster, correct?

I finally figured out a new thruster configuration. Because I moved my entire battery bank to the stern of the boat, which made them much further away from the switches and the bow thruster, I needed to run 2 awg wire to the thrusters and switches due to voltage drop. My wire run to the switches and then to the thrusters was going to be over 50' long.

Solution, I found this relay (below), and changed my switches from the "motor reversing switches", to just "mom on / off / mom on" (below). This way, I can run 10 awg or 12 awg wire from the switch to the relay, and I only have to run the heavy wire, approximately 30', from the battery bank and through the bow relay, and I will get max power out of the thrusters. I will also not burn up 30A switches from the heavy amp load going through them. Here is the relay, switch, and wiring diagram I am using.

It's not prudent to run the thruster current through the dash switches. My dash switches are "joysticks" with micro-switches that probably can't handle more than 3A. They in-turn fire the coils in 50A DPST contactors.

You know, I had carpet on the back sun deck, and when the pad was laid out, it covered the entire carpeted deck, thus holding the water and creating mold. I needed a sundeck that would not hold water, and would still look nice when the pad was folded in half, in "normal" mode. I removed all the carpet from the sun deck, then added drains, the epoxied both sides to waterproof it. I then added the "teak tiles", and created an edge that would hold everything in place. I am pleased with the way it turned out.

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